THE RAISIN INDUSTRY. 159 



ready for use and properly placed. The several different operations in 

 packing, stemming, assorting, etc., of both loose and layers, will at times 

 be carried on in different parts of the packing establishment at the 

 same time, so as to meet the requirements of mixed lots or orders, the 

 general shipments being of that nature. L,oose and layer raisins are 

 produced more or less from almost every sweatbox brought into the 

 packing-house, and the only delay to their being immediately disposed 

 of is because the layer raisins must be sweated or equalized before 

 they are ready for use. The loose raisins, provided they are properly 

 or sufficiently dried, are ready to be handled as soon as brought from 

 the vineyard. A loose raisin, or a bunch from which loose raisins are 

 to be made, must be overdried rather than underdried ; at any rate, it 

 must be so dry, that no juice will come out of it when the raisin is 

 squeezed heavily or even torn. But a matter of greater importance 

 even is that the stems should be brittle or sufficiently dry to break off 

 readily. If they do not break, the raisins cannot be easily separated 

 from the stem. The stems, instead of breaking off, will tear off, and 

 the raisins will be open to the entrance of air, which will cause them to 

 undergo a chemical change, to sugar and deteriorate. 



As soon as a perfectly dried sweatbox of third-grade or loose raisins \^- 

 enters the packing-house, it should be taken to the stemmer. Any 

 delay in this is injurious to the raisins, as they will rapidly undergo 

 a sweating or equalizing, causing the stems to soften and to lose their 

 brittleness. It will, therefore, be seen that loose raisins must on no 

 account be sweated or equalized before they have been stemmed. 

 Besides, if the raisins are in any way moist, they will not shed the 

 dust and dirt when being passed through the stemmer. It is there- 

 fore to every raisin-grower's interest to so hasten the drying of the 

 loose raisins that as many of them as possible can be out of the way 

 when the layers, which take longer to dry, come in. This, as we 

 have shown before, can only be done by assorting the raisins while 

 green, and at the moment they are being picked from the vines. 

 The different size bunches dry at different times, and the loose can 

 then be partially disposed of when the layers are ready. The stem- 

 mer and grader should separate the raisins in at least three grades : 

 Number one, large loose; number two, smaller loose; number three, 

 smallest seedless, to which may be added a number four, or rubbish. 

 The large loose bring always a good price, and great care should be 

 taken with them. After having passed through the stemmer and 

 assorter once, they should be passed through a second or third time, 

 in order that all the inferior or smaller raisins may be eliminated. 

 In this way, a fine, large number one is had, which is sure to give 

 satisfaction. Number two loose may be passed through a second 

 time if the stemmer has not done its full duty, and the same may 

 also be done with number three seedless. It always pays to do a 

 thing well, and this holds good with raisins as with everything else. 

 Colonel Forsyth, who has acquired a high reputation for his loose 

 raisins, advocates and practices this repeated assorting, especially of 

 the number one grade, in order that it may be entirely uniform. Too 

 many poor raisins are generally found among the small seedless, and 



